Melbourne chefs’ top 20 tips to add vegetarian food to your cooking routine
IT wasn’t that long ago that vegetarians only ever had one option when dining out. Here are 20 ways to add meat-free flavour to your cooking routine.
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The United Nations reckons we should do it. So, too, do world cancer research bodies. It’s taken a while, but the message is starting to sink in: eating less meat is good for us, and good
for the planet.
But it wasn’t that long ago that those asking for the vegetarian option when dining out (for there was only ever one option) were served mushroom risotto. Maybe some lentils, or perhaps a vegetable stack if the chef was feeling fancy, for that was the limit to which chefs would deign humour the meat-free diner.
Vegan food has an even worse reputation, all peace, love and mung beans. But flavour? Forget about it.
But times have changed. According to the latest figures from taste.com.au, vegetarian and vegan cooking is on the rise. Vegetarian is the third-most popular search term, up more than 230 per cent on a year ago, while vegan searches have more than doubled.
Even Hog’s Breath Cafe — that bastion of blokes, burgers and beef on the grill — has just won an award from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for its vegan schnitzel burger.
It seems beans are back and finding fans in unlikely places.
Shannon Martinez is in the kitchen at one of the country’s hottest restaurants. That just happens to be meat free. She attributes the success of Smith & Daughters to the fact that she is not, in fact, vegan.
Her first vegan creation — a parma that was served at the East Brunswick Club a decade ago and achieved cult status — was borne out of running a busy pub kitchen.
“My focus was on recreating the dishes I was already doing at the pub and turning them into vegan dishes,” she says.
“I felt it was unfair that the people who were making these great choices for ethical and environmental reasons were missing out.”
Now at Fitzroy’s Smith & Daughters, she estimates up to three quarters of diners aren’t even vegetarians.
“People are becoming more aware of food, that eating meat every day isn’t good for you. Coming into my restaurant makes it easy for people to cut it out once or twice a week.”
The key to its popularity, Shannon says, is that the dishes have depth of flavour and are faithfully emulated versions of the meat-based originals.
“If we recreate things as close as possible, people go for it. If we could eat vegan without the feeling of going without, a lot more would.”
Shannon creates dishes by making a non-vegan version to figure out how she wants it to taste before substituting in the vegan ingredients.
“My whole schtick is to help people take the first steps to go meat free,” she says. “I don’t see myself becoming vegan, but how much meat I eat has drastically changed.”
1: “I use less mock meat now, but for people transitioning, or wanting to eat less meat, it’s a great substitute, a great entry level into eating vegetarian or vegan,” Shannon Martinez says. Asian grocery stores are a good source of mock meats.
2: To give the depth of flavour usually found from using beef, Shannon uses ground dried porcini, whether amping up a vegan bolognese, or for a rich sauce.
3: Apply the same principles of cooking when creating dishes, whether vegan or not.
4: Mike Patrick tends to the smoker at US barbecue joint Fancy Hanks, and, while his days are filled with brisket and ribs, when he’s cooking at home it’s a meat-free affair.
“My wife, Chloe, has been vegan for five years, so it’s great not cooking much meat at home,” he says. “It’s good for balance, and makes cooking more adventurous.”
A quick and easy favourite in the Patrick household is puttanesca pasta. “It has such big flavours, it’s so satisfying,” he says.
In a pan with good olive oil, gently warm chopped garlic. Add diced cherry or Roma tomatoes, a generous amount of capers and chilli to taste.
Toss through a good amount of basil and parsley. Add cooked pasta to the sauce, along with a splash of pasta cooking water. “So easy and so delicious.”
5: If butter is every chef’s best friend, Nuttelex is the vegan chef’s equivalent and equally loved. “It imparts the right flavours, and the silky finish to sauces like butter does. It’s really close,” Shannon says.
6: Another go-to meal for Mike is tacos with roast chickpeas, cashew cream and pico de gallo salsa.
For the cashew cream: place nuts, salt and a splash of cider vinegar and process until smooth, adding water to achieve the right consistency. Take chickpeas (that have been soaked overnight), cook in stock until tender — or use canned chickpeas. Drain, season with ground cumin and salt and roast until crunchy.
For the salsa, dice cucumber, tomato and red onion, season with salt and chilli. Serve with warmed tortillas.
7: For shortcrust pastry when lard would usually be used, Shannon recommends copha (the stuff used to make chocolate crackles). It’s neutral, hard and makes for a very short pastry.
8: “There are a few tricks to transform a meat-based dish into a vegetarian dish for those that are used to eating meat,” Stokehouse’s Ollie Hansford says.
“Sub out proteins for ‘meaty’ hearty vegetables that can handle a bit of robust cooking, such as celeriac, parsnip or eggplant. Roasting gives the allusion of a rich, smoky protein.”
9: He suggests spreading a small amount of Vegemite over a whole parsnip — which adds an umami hit — season with salt and pepper, then roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Slice in half and serve on creamy polenta, with a spicy salsa verde and roast shiitake mushrooms. The same can be applied to half a grilled eggplant.
10: Similarly, when making a vegetable stock, roast the vegetables first. “Get them really dark before putting them in the stock, it gives the depth, body that bones would normally impart,” Shannon says.
11: When recreating seafood dishes, dried kelp and seaweed ground down into powder form are great used for seasoning, adding a savoury umami element to the dish.
12: Whether cooking meat, vegetarian or vegan the No.1 rule of the professional kitchen applies equally: season, season, season. “The reason restaurant food tastes so good is that we use a lot of fat and a lot of seasoning. Way more than people think they should,” Shannon says. “When blanching vegetables, the water should be as salty as the ocean. Don’t be scared.”
13: Nick Bennett from Arbory Bar & Eatery likes to take cauliflower and turn it into a hearty salad, with a few cheffy tricks that are easy to emulate. “Adding different layers of cauliflower is a great way to take a salad to the next level,” he says.
He roasts cauliflower seasoned with curry spices in the oven until it starts to caramelise. To this he adds shaved raw cauliflower, pickled cauliflower, roasted walnuts and tea-soaked raisins. Serve with pan-fried haloumi.
14: “It’s the biggest game changer in vegan cooking,” Shannon says of aquafaba — or more commonly known as the gloop that comes out of a can of chickpeas or beans.
It makes a perfect pavlova, and stiff, hard meringues. You can fold it through a mousse, even make fluffy whisky sours with it. “To think the whole time we were tipping it down the sink, without realising its potential.”
15: Textured vegetable protein (TVP) is a product Shannon recommends as a mince substitute and uses it to make shepherd’s pie. Soaked in a vegan beef or chicken style stock first, it forms the base for the mince that’s then topped with potato and baked.
16: Think about varying the textures in the dish. “Lots of vegan food can be the same texture,” Shannon says. So when making a curry, for instance, mix up chunks of sweet potato with crisp sugar snap peas and finish with a scattering of fried shallots (that can be bought by the bag at Asian grocers).
17: Adrian Li from Tokyo Tina has an easy midweek meat-free meal: miso eggplant. “It’s deliciously simple and always a winner,” he says.
Take a few Japanese eggplants (the long ones) then mix miso, ginger, roasted garlic and sesame oil to form a thick paste. Cut the eggplants in half. Salt for 20 minutes (which will draw out excess moisture), quickly wash, then generously paste the miso on the flat side. Place into 180C oven for 15 minutes. Once tender, sprinkle some nori powder and garnish with a few spring onions.
18: “It may sound weird, but this is a modern-Asian version of cauliflower and cheese, and it’s life-changing,” Li assures. Quarter a head of cauliflower and roast until tender and showing signs of colour. At the same time, make some chilli oil by frying chilli flakes and roasted chillies, chop some chives and toast a handful of pine nuts. A jar of preserved tofu, sprinkle of Sichuan peppercorns blended with some kewpie in a 1/10 ratio forms a delicious umami mayo.
To assemble, heat a pan with 250g butter (“Yes, it’s a lot but the end result is amazing,” Adrian says.) Once the butter starts to bubble, place your cauliflower in and start basting until it’s beautiful and golden. Transfer it on to a plate and garnish with a heavy dollop of mayonnaise and a drizzle of chilli oil, followed by sprinkle of pine nuts and some chives.
19: To make adding a meat-free meal or two into the weekly routine easy, whip up a batch of TVP bolognese on the weekend, which can then be used as a sauce, or as the basis for lasagne.
Shannon’s béchamel simply substitutes soy milk in for regular, and Nuttelex in the place of butter. When warming the milk for the roux, Shannon adds peppercorns, bay leaf and half an onion to add depth of flavour. Finished with shredded vegan cheese and you have a white sauce that’s tasty and versatile.
20: Batch cooking also works a treat for curry. To your choice of curry paste — Shannon suggests trawling the aisles of the Asian grocery store for the best quality pastes — simply add coconut paste and whatever veg you have in the fridge.
SHANNON’S FAVE SUBSTITUTES
Butter: Nuttelex, but any dairy-free margarine can work.
Milk: Soy. Our preference is a malt-free, sugar-free, non-GMO organic soy, but use whatever you can get your hands on.
Eggs: No Egg (egg replacer). There are also heaps of online tutorials using flax seeds and bananas or similar. Try them out. The world of the vegan egg is rapidly expanding. No Egg just happens to be something we can readily get our hands on here at most natural food stores.
Stock: Most supermarkets carry vegan chicken and beef stock.
Cheese: We use BioLife as it is damn tasty and regularly available in mainstream supermarkets.
Prawns: go to an Asian supermarket and do some fun poking around the frozen foods section. You’ll be amazed at what meaty/seafoody substitutes are available.
KALE & LEEK BAKE
Serves / 4-6
500 ml soy milk
250 ml vegetable stock
½ onion, peeled and halved
3 garlic cloves, 1 smashed,
2 crushed
Pinch of fennel seeds
2 fresh bay leaves
Pinch of whole black peppercorns
Handful chopped flat-leaf parsley, reserving the stalks for the stock
4 large leeks, cut in half lengthways and sliced into
1cm (½) pieces, reserving dark-green ends for stock
80g butter, plus extra
for greasing
Olive oil, for frying
1 large bunch kale, leaves stripped and roughly torn
1 tsp finely chopped thyme
35g plain (all-purpose) flour
120g shredded cheese
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Stale bread
METHOD
1/ Pour soy milk and stock in a medium-sized saucepan and add the onion, smashed garlic, fennel seeds, bay leaves, peppercorns, parsley stalks and green leek ends.
2/ Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and allow to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid into a bowl and discard the leftover ingredients.
3/ Heat 1 tbsp of the butter and a glug of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped leek with a pinch of salt and cook until soft but not coloured. Remove from the pan and set aside in a small bowl.
4/ Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and throw in a large pinch of salt.
5/ Drop in the kale leaves and boil for 3–4 minutes or until the leaves have begun to soften but still have their bright green colour. Drain and refresh under cold running water until the leaves are cool. This will stop the cooking process.
6/ Preheat oven to 180C. Grease four individual or one large ovenproof dish with a little butter.
7/ Heat the remaining butter in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat until melted. Add half of the crushed garlic and the thyme and cook for about
30 seconds before adding the flour. Stir well to combine and cook until it becomes a thick paste. Cook over low heat for about 1 minute to cook out the raw flour, then slowly add the strained infused soy milk, stirring constantly to keep the sauce smooth. Add the shredded cheese and mustard and continue to stir over a low heat until cheese has melted. Season with salt and pepper.
8/ Either tear the bread into small pieces or pulse in a food processor until you have chunky breadcrumbs. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add a big glug of olive oil. Add the remaining crushed garlic, chopped parsley and the breadcrumbs along with a pinch of salt and toss well to coat in the oil. Cook over medium heat tossing often until the breadcrumbs are just beginning to turn a light golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
9/ Add kale and leeks to the sauce and stir until evenly combined. Pour into prepared ovenproof dishes and top with the garlicky breadcrumbs.
10/ Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling.
GARBANZOS ESTOFADOS CHICKPEA STEW
Serves / 4-6
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large red capsicum,
finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp dried oregano
1 pinch of saffron threads
400g tinned whole peeled tomatoes
750g potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunky pieces
400g carrots, peeled and
cut into chunky pieces
400g cooked or tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
350g silverbeet (Swiss chard) stalks removed and chopped, leaves sliced
2 fresh bay leaves
Small handful thyme
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock, plus extra if necessary
Handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Crusty bread, to serve
METHOD
1/ Heat the oil in a large casserole dish over medium heat. Add the onion, capsicum, celery and garlic along with a good pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until very soft.
2/ Add both paprikas, chilli flakes, oregano and saffron and cook for 1 minute.
3/ Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon, then cook on the lowest heat for about 20 minutes or until the mixture is thick and jammy.
4/ Add the potato and stir well to coat. Add the carrot, chickpeas, silverbeet stalks, bay leaves and thyme, then pour over the stock. You want to make sure that everything is covered in the liquid so add a little more stock, if necessary. Season with salt and pepper.
5/ Cook over low heat for approximately 1 hour or until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a knife. Add the silverbeet leaves and cook for a further 5 minutes until the leaves are wilted but still bright green. Finish with the chopped parsley and adjust the seasoning, to taste.
6/ Serve with piles of crusty bread.
Smith & Daughters: A Cookbook (that happens to be vegan) by Shannon Martinez & Mo Wyse published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $48.
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